exam_2_study_guide - Soc 2 Winter 2006 Exam II study guide...

Soc 2 Winter 2006 Exam II study guide Perception : The process of drawing meaning form the stimuli that reach our senses. Perception is an active process by which we gather and interpret information about our external and internal environments.-When we are trying to understand what is around us we are active. We draw on social cues-Look at how people perceive reality and process information Social Cognition : Structures of knowledge, the interpersonal processes of knowledge creation and dissemination [including the encoding, storage, retrieval, and activation of social information], the actual content of this knowledge, and the shaping of each of these aspects of cognition by social forces-Structures of thought and how these structures of thought operate-More interested in looking at the internal mechanics of a person’s brain, how they think. Sociologists would be more interested in the shared symbols of people. Seekers : People are driven to excuse actions and beliefs that they perceive as conflicting with other beliefs-Leon Festinger [1950’s and 1960’s] o People are driven to keep a consistency. If you have two sets of beliefs that are at odds, you have motivation to rationalize them together. You are motivated to come up with an explanation.  Conservatives—pro capital punishment and pro life • Is this conflicting?  Greater alleviation of poverty, but at the same time you do not want to have a smaller house or less nice things or raise taxes FOUR SOCIAL THINKER MODELS Naïve Scientist : People resemble naïve scientists, who will gather all the relevant data and arrive at the most logical conclusion…the role of cognition in the naïve scientist model is an outcome of fairly rational analysis.-People gather all the data and arrive at the most logical decision they can. People are logical and rationale. -Consider all the facts and come to the best conclusion -Highly rational and logical information processors o Come to conclusions that match their analysis. -Cold, logical, effortful thinking, deliberative cognition Cognitive Miser : People are limited in their capacity to process information, so they take shortcuts whenever they can…People adopt strategies that simplify complex problems; the strategies may not be normatively correct or produce normatively correct answers, but they

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emphasize efficiency. The capacity limited thinker searches for rapid adequate solutions, rather than slow accurate solutions.-People are lazy, they do not want to spend a lot of time thinking-Effortless thinking, automatic cognition o Searchers for rapid adequate solutions rather than accurate decisions Motivated Tactician : A fully engaged thinker who has multiple cognitive strategies available and chooses among them based on goals, motives, and needs. Sometimes the motivated tactician chooses wisely, in the interests of adaptability and accuracy, and sometimes the motivated tactician chooses defensively, in the interest of speed or self-esteem.-

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